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First ripples of ‘choice’
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer ST. PETERSBURG -- After years of talk, the biggest change in the Pinellas school district in decades will begin to affect some real students Monday morning. About 345 Gulfport Elementary School students will board buses, many of them for the first time, to ride to their temporary home at James Sanderlin Elementary, a new school several miles away. They left their historic school so it can be torn down and rebuilt as a modern one able to handle hundreds more children. Sanderlin was built -- and Gulfport Elementary will be rebuilt -- as part of a construction program costing hundreds of millions of dollars that will accommodate a system called "controlled choice," a new way to match students and schools that takes effect in the fall of 2003. Their temporary quarters will be one of three new schools being built in southern Pinellas County as part of a settlement with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to end decades of court-ordered busing for desegregation. Gulfport students, whose last day in their 90-year-old school was March 22, will return to their own brand-new campus in August 2003. The current frenzied construction of schools in southern Pinellas County and extensive renovation of others will ensure accommodations for students who will no longer have to be bused to achieve court-ordered racial quotas. The upgraded facilities, many of which will be in predominantly black neighborhoods, also are meant to attract white students and encourage voluntary integration. The controlled choice plan and the new modern sparkling facilities are inextricably interwoven in this school district effort to end busing while ensuring a continuation of integrated schools. With "controlled choice," parents of any race will be allowed to select schools for their children that are closer to home. Under the plan, schools that have the misfortune of falling into the less desirable category will find themselves in fierce competition for students. School district officials are encouraging schools to establish unique programs or "attractors" that will entice parents and their children. Poul Hornsleth, who runs R.W. Caldwell Realty in Gulfport with his wife, April, is skeptical of the plan and its ability to benefit black children in predominantly black neighborhoods. "There won't be any slots left for them to choose" because of the school district's policy of grandfathering in students who are already at desired schools, said Hornsleth, who is white. Choice is a "nice word, but is there really going to be a choice or is it going to be a false choice?" he asked. "How can you choose a school if there are no slots in the school?" He is pleased, however, that Gulfport Elementary, where his wife attended and from which his father-in-law, R.W. "Bob" Caldwell Jr., graduated in 1931, is being rebuilt and expanded. "Gulfport has been naturally integrated without busing. Gulfport, in fact, has been an ideal neighborhood school," he said, adding that the new building will accommodate all neighborhood children who want to attend. Building boomThe school district is spending well over $300-million to build new schools and upgrade others. Each of the 19 projects is expected to be complete, or almost so, by the 2003-2004 school year. Construction is on schedule, said Tony Rivas, school district facilities director. "It's not easy. We've had to make some midcourse corrections," he said. A major part of the construction program has been the purchase of properties in areas where new schools are being built or expanded. Of the more than 100 properties bought, there were snags with at least two. One is near Fairmount Park Elementary School, Rivas said. Eventually, he said, "We were able to work out deals with everyone. It wasn't easy, but it went quite well." Other aspects of the effort have been proceeding relatively smoothly, he said. "Every project is a little different. The challenges are different because in some places we had to deal with existing student bodies and keeping the school operational and safe," Rivas said, adding that the school district also had to consider the concerns of surrounding communities. "You can't have a construction project without noise, dust and traffic," he said. Money for the massive construction program is coming from several sources, among them local property taxes and state funds, said Jerry Runkle, assistant superintendent for finance and management information systems. "Essentially, we're pretty much within budget." Enlightening parentsControlled choice will not go into effect for more than a year, but parents may be asked to begin making school selections as early as this fall. To that end, school district officials are stepping up their efforts to educate parents about the new program. Community and religious groups, libraries, neighborhood centers and even doctors' offices will be enlisted to help, said Andrea Zahn, marketing coordinator for the choice plan. The district will set up its own hubs to offer information, applications and help. The south Pinellas County center will be located at PTEC-St. Petersburg, 3420 Eighth Ave. S. Schools also will dispense information. "As we approach the application period, parents will be able to get information on campus in a couple of ways. Each school will offer a discovery night. I am working on a master schedule for that. Schools will also offer tours a couple of times a month," said Ms. Zahn, who is also working with schools to create standardized brochures to market their institutions. "Each school will be doing marketing activities on their own as well," she said. In transitionLike Gulfport students, children at Campbell Park Elementary School also will have to be relocated while their new school is being built. The children will finish this school year at their old building and in August move to a new facility at 1200 37th St. S. That yet-to-be-named school, currently referred to as Elementary School D, is one of the schools being built in predominantly black neighborhoods as part of the agreement to end a 1971 court order that desegregated Pinellas County schools by busing students to achieve racial quotas. Campbell Park children are expected to be on their new campus at the beginning of the 2003-2004 school year. Tina Pearce, a parent, is excited about the prospect of having a new school. "I feel that it's good for the school," said Mrs. Pearce, who is vice president of the PTA. "For one thing, they are kind of limited to what they can do right now." Meanwhile, said Mrs. Pearce, her daughters, Chelsea, 8, and Devyn, 7, are concerned about the longer bus ride to their temporary school. "The girls are kind of apprehensive, but I'm talking them through it," she said. Mrs. Pearce, who is white and lives near Northeast High School, said she plans to keep her children at Campbell Park, in a predominantly black neighborhood, after controlled choice goes into effect. Right now, she said, her children attend the school on special attendance permits. "They were scheduled to be transferred to North Shore this year," she said. One of the main reasons Mrs. Pearce wants her children to remain at Campbell Park is its marine science program, which will be its "attractor" under the choice plan. Furthermore, she enjoys the diversity at Campbell Park. "My children have come into contact with children they would not have. There are lots of children from Vietnam and Thailand. You have to be able to live in this world. I think it's wonderful. If nothing else, it makes them more tolerant." Words like those are encouraging to principal Jim Steen, who is working hard on the school's image. "We are working with a marketing company right now to market our school," Steen said. At Gulfport Elementary, the focus this week will be settling into their temporary quarters at the newly built James Sanderlin Elementary School, 2352 22nd Ave. S, in St. Petersburg. For most, the last day at the old school was a sad one. "There is a lot of nostalgia here, not just from teachers who have been here a while, but also the community," principal Sharon Jackson said.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
